Ghost - Elmax

Chapter 3 : Beard

It was the end of the day. The black-haired young woman was in direction of her apartment. She was feeling stupid because she was fearing it. She shouldn't, but it was stronger than her. She put her hand on the door knob but didn't open immediately. She took deep breathes, trying to convince her it was ridiculous, before slowly opening the door, trying to not make too much noises. The smell was stinging her eyes. He wasn't there. She closed the door, making noises, making start the couch. The black boy brutally woke up with a small scream, looking around with his shaking body.

- "Shit, I didn't see you!" told Gabrielle, running to him. "(places her hand on his cheeks) Breath, just breath, okay? It's just me, it's just me, Gabrielle! Your girlfriend!"

- "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" yelled Lucas.

- "It was an accident, I didn't see you!"

- "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! I COULD HAVE DIED!"

- "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you!" apologized quickly the black-haired girl with tears in her eyes.

- "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Gabrielle didn't insist and went in the kitchen. She broke down on the table, exhausted. She didn't like seeing him like that, she never knew what kind of reaction he could have. And his smell, he drank again, it was making him angrier. She didn't know what to do, in a month he totally changed. She asked him if he didn't want to see a professional to talk to, but he felt offended every time and got angry, so she gave up. She wiped her tears and managed to calm down. She prepared some food, two plates on a tray, and went back to the living-room. Lucas was now sitting, the blanket on his dirty, and messy hair, searching something to watch on the TV. She sat next to him, the tray between them.

- "You should shave your beard. It begins to be messy."

- "Later."

Gabrielle pinched her lips together and nodded. She tried every day to force him to take care of himself, but he always answered the same thing.

- "I'm not hungry," told Lucas.

- "Just a little bit, to be su—"

- "I. Am. Not. Hungry."

The black boy turned his head like to provoke her, but the girl didn't follow him in this. The girl took her plate on her lap, while Lucas opened another beer and drank it.

- "What did you do today?" asked shyly Gabrielle.

- "Uh...nothing..." answered Lucas, looking down at his lap, feeling ashamed.

- "It's fine. Maybe tomorrow, you could take a shower?"

- "Oh yeah!? And how I'm supposed to do that!?"

- "We have a bath, you can just lay down in it."

- "And how I get out!?"

- "I...I..."

- "Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm unable to do anything!"

- "That's not true! Many people can do many things, even with just one leg!"

- "But that's not me, okay!? Me, I'm just a loser, I'm not even able to just take a shower!" stated Lucas with a shaking voice, and tears in his eyes.

- "Oh, Sinclair..." sighed sadly Gabrielle.

She tried to put her hands on his cheeks, but the boy rejected her and violently threw his beer on the wall in front of them, scaring her. The young boy let some tears fall on his cheeks, before taking support on his arms to move in the wheelchair next to him and leaving the room.

Gabrielle stayed a moment on the couch, her face hid behind her hands, like if he was still there. She didn't want to join him, she preferred staying alone. But she didn't like letting him alone, she didn't know what he could do. Her biggest fear was to find him dead, a bullet in his head. Every time she was leaving the apartment to go to work, she was thinking of him, alone, lost, depressing, and thinking he had no other choice. She finally went in their bed, trying to fall asleep, knowing he could scream during the night, because of the pain, or a nightmare.

She didn't know what happened to them, why they were like that now, but it was scary, she couldn't recognize any of them! They were not the same.